Not the usual rear hatch problem

When was the last time you replaced the hatch struts?

 

This would be a good thing to look into... It's also possible someone hit your rear bumper hard enough that it bent in that rear panel the latch bolts to and its no longer properly aligned and you need to remove the latch and take a big hammer to the mount so it's bent back further and lines up better.

PS: Can you post a photo of your replacement switch as well as where you can buy them?

 

Thanks for the link... So you're saying it clears the latch and gets an inch high and gets stuck? What happens when you force the issue?

Once it's clear of the latch it's just the struts and hinges and if you've never washed your car you could have lots of debris around those hinges causing this. Or maybe the metal where hatch connects to the roof... has been damaged?

 

Well if it's not entirely clearing the latch then it's not opening an inch first, but less than that. Clearly your problem is the latch. And because you already replaced that once, you'll have no problem pulling it out and cleaning and inspecting and greasing. I bet that's the only problem. Or perhaps your replacement latch is still under warranty?

 

It doesn't have a separate, finger-operated catch the way the hood has, no, but it does have a two-stage latch. If you have the hatch open and use your pinky to push down the latch, you'll notice it has two clicks.

Sometimes I use too brief a touch on the open button for mine, and get it unlatched just up to the next click. Then I pull on the hatch, it goes bonk, and I have to look a little sheepish and push the button again.

If something is slowing down / gumming up the motion of the latch or your lifting of the hatch, that could happen more often.

 

As someone who's Prius is loaded with gardening tools full time and I'm constantly moving trees and plants and debris around, this latch wears out and fails real quick if you aren't constantly cleaning it out. I pulled my latch and cleaned and lubed it so many times that I finally had to replace it because it was worn to broken in multiple ways.

 

Try putting a little bit of downward pressure on the hatch with one hand while pressing and holding the latch button with the other. Works for me. Other times it's just the weather stripping stuck to the paint.

 

Where's Wallace?

 

+1 to ChapmanF

The tailgate latch does have "2 stages". If you close the T/G too gently the latch won't fully seat ( to the 2nd stage) and won't turn off the interior light or dash indicator ( which = dead 12V battery).

So it's possible for the latch to release only "part-way". My first thought would be to check if striker loop on the T/G is rubbing on the side of the receiver slot on the latch. Maybe the latch mounting needs adjustment or the striker is slightly bent?

I use a screwdriver to manually close the latch with the T/G open. Then trigger the opening switch while lifting on the screwdriver to test how well the latch releases. (Maybe the voltage to the latch release solenoid is low and doesn't work correctly?)

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I'll second that one, with a larger sized phillips screwdriver, push the round shaft through the latching mechanism to get the two stages of latching, then press and hold the button while trying to pull the screwdriver back out to open the latch. If that works ok, check that the aligning pads aren't pushing the tailgate to one side as it locates in the latch and that is what is causing it to jam.
Mine has the opposite problem, sometimes the latch will close into the first step while the tailgate is up, the door section then pushes the the latch to fully locked position and no tailgate latching .... I have to continually flick the hatch opening bit while pulling the screwdriver back through the latch to get it back in the open position.

T1 Terry

 

the unusual gets usual. i've got similar issue. but i don't seem to be lucky enough to get that 'second' stage to release. Now that it is mentioned, I realize that, historically, i have been fighting that second stage since i bought the car but the second push and pull would release it.

I have to admit, i never thought of it as staged but now that the first stage clearly releases and the second never does that is clear. to make more of a conundrum, if i only shut it hard enough to engage the 1st stage, then it releases easily with the button, but if i shut it all the way it only releases from the 2nd or fully latched stage to the partly latched circumstance, but will not release that 1st stage and i have to crawl inside and trigger the manual release.

I haven't spent time yet messing with the latch and a screwdriver, but hearing that someone with a similar problem got no result from replacing the latch itself leaves me perplexed. i don't observe any side to side alignment issue. And I get wonder why there even is a 2nd grab. maybe it is meant to prevent an accidental trigger from resulting in the hatch opening (I would think that could only be a problem when the lift cylinders are like brand new, because the geometry is that the ones i've got don't really start lifting until you get the gate open a little by hand, or maybe it is intended so if there is something preventing the gate from closing all the way it will still be latched?

i wouldn't exactly call this planned obsolence, but maybe unplanned???

Brian

 

US Federal motor vehicle safety standards require double-latch closures in certain uses, and the back door of a Prius qualifies.

 

If you remove the trim to expose the solenoid that pulls the cable, try manually pulling the cable till you get the latch to release both stages in one go, that is how far you need the solenoid to pull, but no further. The magnetic field in the solenoid is the strongest at the end of it's stoke, if the iron core can not travel far enough to reach the end of the windings because the cable is too tight, it won't have the pulling power to fully release the catch. It might take some fiddling to get it exactly right, but that generally fixes the problem.
Another test is to measure the voltage while the solenoid is being operated, a poor cable connect of switch will cause excessive voltage drop and the magnetic field won't be strong enough to actually fully release the catch.

T1 Terry

 

the government here to help us again. should have known. got enough trouble keeping single stage latches working . . .